Building your app
Building an app on Clio APIs starts with creating a developer account. If you're building an integration with Clio Grow, this is done through the Clio Platform developer portal. If you're building a Clio Manage integration, you can use the Clio Manage developer portal. After that, you need to build support for the OAuth authorization flow so that users can integrate their Clio account with our app. See the Clio Platform OAuth docs or the Clio Manage OAuth docs depending on the product you're integrating with.
Our API Documentation contains detailed information you'll need to build your integration with Clio's API, and our API Reference pages for Clio Manage and Clio Grow contain details of the available endpoints and data in Clio's APIs.
When building an app or integration that uses Clio APIs, here are a few general points to help you get started:
Security
Security of Clio's customer data is one of Clio's top priorities, and this extends to app ecosystem. Your app should follow our security and data guidelines. We also maintain a list of recommended security tools that can help you during development. Note that, as part of the launch process for your application, we will ask you to complete a security questionnaire via Securiti.
Accessibility
We believe that Clio and our integrations should be available to everyone who wants to use them. While we don’t have specific accessibility requirements for launching an integration in Clio's App Directory, we do ask that you meet certain standards as part of the App Partner Program. Here is a resource to reference as you build.
User experience
Usability and level of polish in your app's user experience can be a key differentiator in helping you gain users and solve real-world customer problems. While we don't have any baseline usability requirements, we will assess the user experience during the demo as part of the launch process for your integration.
Technical specifications
To ensure the best user experience, we require that your integration support the latest two (2) versions of Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari if it's a web-based app, or is compatible with the latest OS version if it's a desktop app. We may ask for this to be demonstrated before launch.
API Versioning
Clio versions its APIs to ensure stability for integrators. Review the Clio Manage versioning policy and Clio Platform versioning policy for a detailed understanding of how API versioning works and how we release, support, and deprecate versions of our API.
Testing
Make sure you test your app functionality on your developer account. Avoid using customer accounts for testing and troubleshooting. Clio does not provide a test/sandbox environment at this time.